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I can support student innovation and creativity through a process of inquiry-action-reflection

I can provide and maintain an environment within which students feel safe (physically, culturally, socially, emotionally) to be responsible for their own learning

I can support students to initiate and engage in their own inquiries

I can promote student reflection and action in response to their learning

I can provide opportunities for students to make connections and transfer learning to new contexts and across subjects

I can establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the wellbeing of the learning community.

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Use the compass Points Below to reflect on your first day.

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Use the compass Points Below to reflect on your first day.

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Connect with other participants' in this space and post responses to their comments

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If you're interested in collaborating/Skyping  with other schools/classes during your school'sexhibition add your email address here.

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If you're interested in collaborating/Skyping  with other schools/classes during your school'sexhibition add your email address here.

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How exciting does that sound? OMG! We're doing what???!!

Announce the title of this post to your students and behold the wonder in their eyes!

What could an expedition sound like / feel like / look like? What could be possible on such a journey? Unpack the word 'expedition' and feel the buzz!

To me, at least, the word expedition conjures up images of adventure, a magical journey, a celebration, something to prepare for, to challenge yourself, to push yourself beyond what you thought possible. Sounds familiar?

(Anyone, anyone...?) That's right, The PYPx!

Currently, the 'x' doesn't stand for expedition, it stands for exhibition. Each year I spend quite some time explaining that our exhibition is about the process more than the final product which will be shown on the staging days. People look bewildered as to why I'm describing an exhibition as being more about the process, rather than a product.

During the unit itself, we hold parent check-ins every Friday. Students have a process journal; a giant scrap book which shows their learning journey. On staging days we show a video in the 'PYPx Cinema', emphasizing the process, the journey, before visitors are invited into the staging area.

However, for many people it remains to be all about the 'product' to be shown on the staging days. Some parents see it as a chance for them to try to help out, 'science fair' style (if you know what I mean), or to put pressure their children into performing well on the big days. Whilst I'm sure they mean well, this can lead to increased stress levels surrounding the entire process, detracting from the experience and devaluing the journey.

As educators, this is certainly not our intention.

Some people simply cannot get past the image of, well, an exhibition, when hearing the word 'exhibition'. Perception is, after all, reality.

Let's consider what the dictionary has to say (oxforddictionaries.com):
Exhibition: "A public display of works of art or items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair." (Hmm, no wonder the misconceptions persist!)
From the same dictionary:
Expedition: "A journey undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, especially that of exploration, research, or war." "setting out with aggressive intent". (An aggressive inquiry...WOW!) (Exploration, research... I love it!)
I suggest that we can solve this with a simple word change. A few letters, to make a world of difference.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this, and I've made a 1 question Google Form to get your personal decision on the matter.

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How exciting does that sound? OMG! We're doing what???!! Announce the title of this post to your students and behold the wonder in their eyes! What could an expedition sound like / feel like / look like? What could be possible on such a journey? Unpack the word 'expedition' and feel the buzz!

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I was invited by the Faria Group to lead a webinar on the PYP Exhibition. This is one of my most favorite things to talk about so it was an easy 'yes'. The enhancements to the PYP have brought about a lot of clarity (in my opinion) as to what the Exhibition is and what it can be. Here is a summary of the ideas shared in the webinar:

This is the 'one word' that I kept thinking of as I was prepping for the webinar. The degree to which agency is present in the Exhibition will likely correlate with the degree to which it exists in all of your learning spaces. If you want students to be agents of their own learning, start now - don't wait for Exhibition! And if you don't know where to start, tap into this holy grail of all things agency as curated by Taryn Bond Clegg.

These are two films I suggested sharing to all members of the learning community as the journey begins. The first one, Alike, will help people see why we want kids thinking for themselves and moving independently about the world. The second one, by John Spencer, will help remind us that it all might be a total failure - but that it doesn't mean WE are total failures. Play them back-to-back to get best effect. 🙂

NOTE: John has a great follow-on video called When Projects Fail which may/may not also come in handy!

The IB Principles to Practice are DEFINITELY worth reading - in particular in relation to the Exhibition. Figuring out the purpose of the exhibition, how it will look in your context, what roles each member of the learning community will play, and the degree of release toward a student-led exhibition, are key factors to consider before getting started.

Collaboration is one of the key components of the exhibition and again, this won't just happen unless we are intentional about it. Destination Imagination has some great resources to help both develop team relationships and then reflect on how they might be made even stronger.

Figuring out what you think/hope the exhibition will look like is a great start. I think most of us have visions of a straight, uncomplicated, but long path. Reality, it looks a bit like spaghetti junction, most of the time. Having a plan before you start is great. Your plan could look something like this:

Identify a global issue or opportunity that has meaning to the student(s) and connects to the school or local context

Collaborate to develop central idea(s)

Identify group or individual lines of inquiry and student questions

Connect with mentors and use class time to focus on ongoing Exhibition inquiries

Designate 'check-in' times with mentors to monitor and document progress, and to provide feedback and feedforward.

Decide on the culmination of the exhibition to share the learning process. Consider the environmental impact of the culminating event when looking for ways to make the learning visible.

Reflect on the Exhibition process

You will then want to think about assessment. What I like about this is that students are asked to have a strong hand in creating their own success criteria. What does that mean or look like? I took the main features of the exhibition and the assessment guidelines and then created a few question to guide students in assessing their learning. Great to share these with the students and to get their input on them too.

Start with the end in mind...

On the topic of assessing, or thinking ahead to what is coming, I like to have students take a leaf from Seth Godin's "Ship It" manual and speak into the future about their own success and achievements before they begin. A powerful way to take a moment to think about what they hope to get out of this process.

Exhibition is not meant to be a solo experience for kids or teachers. Key to the success of the exhibition are mentors. I wrote a post about different ways of including adult support for the exhibition in a post called We(Chat) Are The Champions. It has some good stuff on different ways of making the most out of mentors.

Step by step...

I am not a fan of checklists but I do understand that having some sort of framework when undertaking such a big project is absolutely necessary. Here is my six step version of a checklist. I just implore you to not think of it as written in stone. It's just a guide so when you and/or your kids are wound up in spaghetti junction, you have some idea of which way is up.

Let's get ready...

So, we are now (almost) ready to go! But here's one last-ish word on what that means. It can be really easy to get bogged down with 'research'. I encourage you to consider a bias toward action - a phrase that comes from Design Thinking and the Stanford d.School. Equally, consider developing a Producer Mindset - different from a consumer mindset. Raising Producer Kids by Philip Guo is a great read.

Great questions are the key to a great exhibition and if you want to brush up on your skills in relation to helping kids pose and pursue great questions, look no further than The Right Question Institute.

A tool you might want to consider is the Post-it App. I love this app. It is not a 'must have' but it does make this process fun and there are so many ways to use the kids thinking to build their understanding of the questions they are asking and to help them figure out which questions they REALLY want to go for. Here are some other ways of organizing and categorizing questions:

This visible thinking routine: question sorts, is probably one of my favorites. Questions that end up in the bottom right quadrant are the ones most likely to generate engagement, insights, creative action, deep understanding, or new possibilities, while also being questions that one really cares deeply about investigating. After you have these questions, you could take them and sort them again into concept categories:

Everything you need to know about these cards is on this blog. Check out this post to get started.

A new edition to my Exhibition toolkit (and one I have not tried with PYPX students but use regularly with our XBlock students) is a project summary. This is a one-pager that students can use to summarize their thinking, free from jargon, and with their voice at the front of everything. This would be a tool I would use to conference with students and help them to put a voice to the nature of the project they are about to undertake.

Conceptually thinking...

When students have created lines of inquiry based on concepts, I have found some of them will often get this 'now what?' look about them. What do I do now? The following chart would be a great tool to guide conversations with students about what they might be doing if they were pursuing a line of inquiry connected to one of these concepts. This idea of connecting verbs with concepts was first shared by Cristina Milos and I took her idea and added these prompts.

Action is a key component of the exhibition. Under the PYP Enhancements, action is broken down into a number of categories. These next two images show what those categories are and then the second, what students might find themselves doing depending on what they are trying to achieve:

Link to full post

Learner Profile and ATLs

The following cards are under construction. I am working on the icons in collaboration with our Early Years teachers and I want to work on the language of the guiding/reflective questions. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it!

Suzanne Kitto has generously shared her work on ATLs via her Twitter account. Rebekah Madrid has bounced off this work to create ATLs for MYP students. I was inspired by both educators and made a set of EY ATL cards. You can't go wrong.

In the webinar I pulled math as an example and shared some information about three different ways that three different educators have used to bring math into the PYP. All the details about this can be found in this post.

Documenting the journey

I think most people have ways that they enjoy using (adults and kids alike) to document learning. This might depend on access to technology or student interest, but for the most part, taking the time to document what is going on is a key part of the Exhibition journey. The night before the webinar I had a slide prepped with bullet points about documenting. Then I put my daughter to bed and read "Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds. In that book, Ramon (and Peter) reminded me that it really is ok to NOT document everything - the learning still exists. Love it.

Staging the Exhibition...

When you and your students are getting ready to share, I offer these three things to remember:

1. It is a celebration! Be joyful! Have fun! And remember to celebrate the process, the failures, the false starts, the milestones, the massive achievements. It is all part of the journey.

2. Be kind to the environment. Consider the message your physical products are sending to your audience.

3. Keep asking yourself, "Who's fingerprints are on the work?" - this is a phrase my friend and fellow design teacher uses to remind us that at the end of the day, it's the kid's work. Let their academic voice shine through.

And to the students, I would say:

I will post a link to the webinar when it becomes available. I want to make sure I thank all the educators who so generously share their work with the rest of us. I also want to thank Leila Holmyard from Managebac who helped me think through the process of exhibition and was so open to helping me synthesise and expand on my wonderings based on the PYP Enhancements, and Kelby Zenor of Faria Education for inviting me to the Webinar.

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I was invited by the Faria Group to lead a webinar on the PYP Exhibition. This is one of my most favorite things to talk about so it was an easy 'yes'. The enhancements to the PYP have brought about a lot of clarity (in my opinion) as to what the Exhibition is and what...

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Together with our students we worked for 41 school days on a journey of inquiry.
There are many words I could use to describe the experience of being a class teacher with Grade 5 students who are 'doing Exhibition'; but now as I reflect on the process, interactions and staging, just one word comes to mind - 'amazing'.
To have the opportunity to work with a large number of students who are all on a quest to inquire into something that really matters, something that they passionately believe in the 'So What?' is really quite an amazing feeling. The energy that comes from conversations, interactions and their excitement, frustration and challenges is really tangible.

Our students collaborate and communicate; they create individual working offices; they work on independent inquiries; they manage themselves as 11 year olds do, with support and robust structures that are part of the learning environment. They discuss their research, challenge one another to dig deeper, to push further, to do more in the quest to get to 'So What?'
Watching students checking in with each other, following up on conversations, sharing resources and contacts, making suggestions, connections, giving feedback and feedforward whether it was asked for, or not: is where the magic starts. Knowing that these students are applying knowledge, skills, attitudes and understandings that they have developed through their school career is very satisfying.

We encourage other teachers to come into the 'learning space' to observe and connect with students, those conversations are a powerful way for our students to reflect on where they are at and what their next steps could be. When a teacher sees a student the worked with 2 or 3 years ago they can see the development of the students and know that they were part of that journey. We also have an 'open house' for parent check ins; we do nothing to 'get ready' - we are ready! There are no appointment times. If a parent comes to see a child then the student engages in the sharing using what they are doing at that moment as the catalyst for the conversation. It keeps it very real.

Reflect . Choose . Commit . Act .
As a regular practise in our class we develop our commitment to planning our time and learning in what we call RCA Time. Students have dedicated time at the start and end of the day to reflect on the learning, the process, the successes and challenges, the what ifs? - sometimes we have a reflection prompt other times students generate a shared prompt or they create their own. They record their thoughts, then they decide what are the next steps - what needs to happen next - and they write it down in an "I will ...' type statement to commit to it.
Act speaks for itself! We expect evidence of action to be recorded - students need to prove they acted on what they said they were going to do. Accountability.

How we organise ourselves underpins the learning. Collaboration
Students work together in so many different ways, they share skills, they reflect and challenge one another. Practically when they need help they request it.
I believe collaboration is about the culture you build in a class community.
Exhibition is not the time to create new structures, it is the time to bring together all the things that have been happening and see the synergy.
Systems and structures of organisation that support a class community are developed over time. How we organise ourselves is the transdisciplinary theme that underpins our unit, as such it provides a structure for students to have a strong foundation to guide their learning as they develop their inquiry.
'Ideas Reveal Possibilities'
students may also develop inquiries that connect to Sharing the Planet, How the world works, Where we are in place and time, Who we are or How we express ourselves, but
This provides a framework for students to develop the curriculum connections that tie the learning together. They justify passionately why they are connecting to 'materials and matter' (Science) while also connecting with 'Humans and natural environments' (Social Studies) and this goes further of course. At the same time their peers will challenge them to provide evidence; these conversations are powerful.
As a teacher I have found Exhibition to be inspiring, and energising; knowing that our students have the skills and abilities to develop an inquiry that matters to them and that they still feel passionately about when staging days are done is the ultimate. The possibilities continue . . .

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Together with our students we worked for 41 school days on a journey of inquiry.There are many words I could use to describe the experience of being a class teacher with Grade 5 students who are 'doing Exhibition'; but now as I reflect on the process, interactions and staging, just one word comes to mind - 'amazing'.To have the opportunity to work with a large number of students who are all on a quest to inquire into something that really matters, something that they passionately believe in the 'So What?'

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How to make an engaging PYP exhibition that everyone will remember? Turn it into an experience!
Let's be honest, student exhibition presentations can be quite boring.

Whether it is because a student is reading from a Power Point presentation or taking you through the material they have stuck to their poster board, quite often the presentation portion of the exhibition fails to convey the excitement and passion of the inquiry. The information can be extremely interesting, but without a well thought out method to engage the audience the presentation is likely to be a bit of a letdown.

This year I had the chance to lead my first exhibition and this dilemma was at the front of my mind. Teaching is my second career, my first being in advertising as an art director, so I have a passion for ideas and how to present them in an engaging way. I wanted to share this passion with my students to show them how to create interesting presentations and to present their learning to others in a fun, interesting and engaging manner.

We chose to challenge the students to think about their presentations in a different fashion, as an experience - an experience that included the audience and would allow the viewer to interact with the exhibitors and receive information in unique and creative ways. The goal was to remake the exhibition presentation into something that would stick with the audience member, regardless of whether they were students, parents or teachers.

In order to give our students a chance at designing their presentations into these types of experiences, we knew that we could not wait until the last week to start planning and putting ideas together. Instead we tried to plant the seeds of creativity from the beginning. When the students got to school on Monday morning of the first week of exhibition, they found their classroom bare. All of the student work, the posters and the decorations had been stripped from the walls. The students were told that they were to think of their classroom as a blank canvas on which they would be designing their exhibition inquiry and eventually their exhibition presentation experience. We wanted the challenge and opportunity for something exciting to happen in the students' minds from the beginning.

As the inquiries took their shape and the students began their research process, each group carved out a section of the classroom to work in. This section was also to be the space where they would eventually build their presentation experiences. We are fortunate to have a large year 6 classroom and a small number of students, which made it possible for all three of our groups to remake their classroom into their final presentation space. I feel that this helped the students to consider their presentation possibilities from early on in the exhibition process. The results were even better than I had hoped as the concept of the presentation experience grew and formed at the same time as the rest of the inquiry.

Week by week we removed more and more things from the classroom to give our students the room to create. Desks, shelves and computers were relocated to the hallway as our students reshaped their classroom. The students worked closely with their mentors to help them conceive and create their ambitious presentation spaces. It was frantic as the last weeks of exhibition always tend to be, but frantic in a good way. Instead of worrying about how to fill up our poster boards, we were solving creative challenges such as how we could turn a corner of a room into a dinosaur cave or change the other side into a movie theater.

In the end the students blew me away with the presentations they created! There were three groups and here is how they engaged with the audience:

T r anspo rt a ti on/Tec h G r oup: This group inquired into the causes and effects cars, boats and devices have on the environment. They created a pollution cruise where they took passengers on an imaginary ride to the great pacific plastic garbage patch. Passengers, who were required to wear life-jackets, were shown dumps filled with toxic e-waste, shown dirty water and engaged in a discussion about car pollution after a huge car crash on land. Yes, the students had most of their information on boards, but used this as a follow-up after the cruise if passengers wanted more information.

Movie Piracy: This group inquired into the movie piracy process, people's responsibility in that process, and how China censors movies. They appropriately decided to make a movie to share their knowledge. Using PowToons they created a video to explain how the piracy process works and how people who watch downloaded movies are part of the problem. They then recorded and interviewed teachers and students asking them questions about their downloading habits. They took all this footage and edited it together into a powerful movie that they showed during exhibition. In addition, they asked audience members to become part of the process by having them vote if the movie changed their minds. The mini theater with black out curtains and a popcorn machine created the full effect.

Extinction: This group inquired into the causes and effects of extinction. They focused on the extinction of dinosaurs, the extinction of languages and the possible extinction of sharks and humans in the future. They came up with the idea of a time machine to take visitors on an imaginary journey forward and backwards in time. There was a future ocean without sharks, a cave from a mass extinction in the past and a school 200 years in the future where only 5 languages still exist. The props and details were exquisite: a magnetic shark puzzle where the various parts of the shark could be taken off to show how it is used, such as in Chinese medicine, Shark's fin soup, wallets, etc; a "possible" timeline of how languages went extinct based on real scientific predictions; and a cave made of tarps and craft paper where all the information was inside and shared in an intimate setting under small torches.

People who visited our exhibition were fully immersed in the experience. The unique environment created an atmosphere where students enjoyed teaching and enjoyed learning! While I know that all the students did a significant amount of research and learned a lot during exhibition, they may forget that knowledge over time.

What they will not forget is their experience. I hope that when they go to secondary, they will use their skills supported by the many teachers in the school to present different information in unique and creative ways.

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Jordan Rose is the PYP Coordinator and year six teacher at Zhuhai International School (ZIS). Originally from Toronto, Canada, he has spent the past 16 years living overseas and working as an international educator. He has taught at International Schools in the UAE, Honduras and China respectively, with a focus on upper elementary classroom teaching and curriculum development. Jordan also enjoys coaching basketball and participating in the activities program at ZIS. He is currently in his fifth year at Zhuhai International School.

William Applebaum is a PYP upper primary teacher. He has finished the y ear 6 exhibition at Zhuhai International School and has started the next school year at the International School of Ho Chi Minh City. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he did not enter teaching in the traditional way, rather he started his career as a creative professional in America (in advertising and design). After seven years in the creative world, he discovered and fell in love with international teaching. He has been lucky enough to live in various places around the world. He tries to use his background to enrich his students' experience in the classroom.

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How to make an engaging PYP exhibition that everyone will remember? Turn it into an experience! Let's be honest, student exhibition presentations can be quite boring. Whether it is because a student is reading from a Power Point presentation or taking you through the material they have stuck to their poster board, quite often the presentation portion of the exhibition fails to convey the excitement and passion of the inquiry.

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When I first became fascinated in inquiry-based approaches (too many years ago to say!), the focus for many of my conversations and indeed, my early research, was on how to plan. Back then, learning about inquiry helped me shift my thinking from planning thematically - or even in a more genuinely integrated way, to planning with a learning process in mind. Understanding inquiry helped me think more carefully about learning. Planning was no longer focused on making clever curriculum connections - it was about designing a process that would scaffold thinking from the known to the unknown, from shallow to deep and that would place the learner at the heart of all we did. My planning got better - much better. That approach to planning is now deeply embedded in my way of being as a teacher. It is organic and fluid. I don't need to have it all mapped out the way I once did - I can combine my understanding of process with the immediate interests and needs of the learners with whom I work.

This emergent approach to planning is central to the inquiry teacher's repertoire and remains a significant part of the work I do...but over the last few years in particular, I find myself thinking so much more about what happens when this plan gets put into action. The planning and the teaching are certainly deeply connected but - too often, inquiry seems almost synonymous with 'units'. The cringe-worthy phrase "we do inquiry" usually means: we fill in an inquiry planner using a cycle/framework of inquiry - we document tasks in the boxes (even in an emergent way) and the tasks are student-centred - such as visible thinking routines, etc.

However well a 'planner' reads - what really counts is what the teacher actually DOES with those plans. If we simply list strategies or resources or the ubiquitous "discuss with children...." -have we thought sufficiently about how we will teach? I have experienced, many times, teachers emerge from the same planning meetings, with the same broad intentions and indeed with some excellent, promising learning engagements.... only to see true inquiry unfold in one classroom and not another.

Inquiry is not just about knowing how to plan - it's about how we teach. It's about what we say to kids and how we say it. It's about the way we listen and the way we feel about what our kids are saying. It's about knowing when to step back and when to step in. The language we use and the silences we deliberately leave. It's about what we are thinking about what we are doing. To one teacher "See, Think, Wonder" is an engaging learning task to be completed at the beginning of a unit - to another it is a window onto children's theories, an opportunity explore how a student 'sees' a concept. A 'unit of inquiry' is not worth the paper it is written on if we don't know what it means to be an inquiry teacher.

I have long been utterly intrigued by the question "what makes an inquiry teacher' - why is it that some find it such a natural disposition and while others struggle SO much with sharing power or seeing a bigger picture? But I'll save my musings on that for another time.... Today, I am thinking about what inquiry means for the act of 'teaching' itself. Here are techniques or approaches I observe inquiry teachers use. A dozen of the best.....

1. They talk less. It's that simple (I'm still working on that one myself!!)

2. They ask more. The discourse in an inquiry classroom is rich with quality questions - inquiry teachers know how to use questions to help students uncover their own thinking and understanding.

3. They relate - with the heart as well as the head. The BEST inquiry teachers I see genuinely enjoy their students and know them. Knowing your students is the key to successful facilitation - particularly of personal inquiries.

4. They let kids in on the secret - inquiry teachers have a transparent style. It's not just about putting learning intentions up on the wall - they constantly ensure their kids know why they are doing what they are doing. Inquiry teachers often think aloud - they reveal the complexities and the joys of learning to their students by being a learner.

5. They use language that is invitational and acknowledges the elasticity of ideas. Words like 'might' 'could' 'possibly' 'wonder' 'maybe' 'we' are used far more than 'must' 'is' 'will' 'I'. They remain open to possibility.... and you can hear it in their voice. Inquiry teachers speak what Claxton calls "learnish" - and they help their students speak it too.

6. They check in with their kids - a lot. The teaching itself looks, sounds and feels like an act of inquiry. They listen, observe and 'work the space'. They do not spend most of their time at the front of the room. The teach beside - sometimes 'on the side' and not - for the most part - on the stage.

7. They collaborate with their students. They trust them! The 'asymmetry' of power in the traditional classroom is challenged by inquiry teachers - they allow role reversal and are comfortable letting the learner lead.

8. They use great, challenging, authentic resources - not just the ones that are easy and on hand. They are hunters and gatherers - looking for objects, people, places, texts that will bring the world to their kids.

9. They are passionate and energetic. And that includes some of the most calm and quiet teachers I have ever worked with! I think that's true of all the best teachers - inquiry based or not - but these teachers are passionate about investigation, about the thrill of discovery, about seeing patterns and the learner 'getting it' - they are genuinely interested in the world and relentlessly curious. And it shows.

10. They see the bigger picture - they have a good grasp of the significant concepts and skills relevant to the focus of students' inquiry. They may not know all the facts - but they DO have a 'birds eye', conceptual view that is invaluable in scaffolding learning for children. You can hear it in the way they question.

11. They invite, celebrate and USE questions, wonderings, uncertainties and tensions that arise from their students. They may not be the questions they expected - but they use those questions to scaffold learning.

12. Traditional pedagogy sees the teacher provide a set of instructions, make sure everyone 'knows what to do', explain everything and THEN students might be given some time to do a task themselves. It's about 80% teacher led and 20% student. Inquiry-based pedagogy gets kids doing, thinking and investigating - and the explicit teaching happens in response to what the teacher sees and hears. The 80:20 ration is reversed. Good inquiry teachers know how to get more kids thinking more deeply more of the time.

In inquiry schools, we spend a lot of time planning and documenting. These conversations are invaluable and I am not for a moment, suggesting this is not important. But let's remember that what counts the most, as Hattie and others remind us, is what we think, do and say when we engage with our students. Programs and planners don't make inquiry happen. Teachers and learners do.

What do you think it means to be an inquiry teacher?

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When I first became fascinated in inquiry-based approaches (too many years ago to say!), the focus for many of my conversations and indeed, my early research, was on how to plan .

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This is my 8th PYPx. Every one has been a success in its own way and has provided opportunities for students to grow, learn and celebrate their years in the PYP. But this one feels different to me. It feels as if this PYPx is actually transforming us as individuals and as a community. We're not 'doing' PYPx. Instead, we're in the middle of a genuine collaborative endeavour to better understand ourselves and to positively impact our community. Over the years, we've learned to let go of our preconceived notions about PYPx and the rules and structures we used to think guided it, in order to fully embrace the possibilities and ask ourselves some what if questions. Some 2019 questions: What if there are different ways that people (students and adults) can participate in PYPx? What if PYPx looked different for every student? What if the product isn't the point at all? What might it look like if PYPx was truly meaningful for everyone? What if PYPx was transformative for individuals and the year level?

To us it doesn't feel as though PYPx just started this term, it feels as though we have been building to it all year, and this is just a continuation of the learning and thinking that was already happening. When students are talking about getting into flow, the dispositions they're drawing upon, or the action they could take, these conversations and experiences are not new. Instead, we're building upon what's already there and continuing to add depth and layers to their thinking. Our Central Idea (Thinking beyond ourselves empowers us to act) has been part of our learning across the whole year.

The collaboration that is taking place is authentic. Students are moving in and out of individual inquiries, one on one and group discussions with their peers and teachers, optional additional provocations, tea circles, whole year level provocations and discussions with all of Year 6. There are several layers to our PYPx: what we are inquiring into as a community and what individual students are investigating and exploring. Students will independently step out of their inquiry to join a group discussion about an entirely different thing. Earlier this week I shared a personal dilemma I was facing where I knew there was something I needed to do, but didn't quite have the courage to do it. From this, it has grown into my own PYPx inquiry around courage and now there are students who will sit down next to me during PYPx not to ask for a conference about their inquiry, but to conference with me about my inquiry. They're invested in each other and in us. There is heart in what we are doing.

We're all about the process. We're still, 6 weeks in, having daily provocations to shift thinking and introduce new perspectives. There are students who have explored 3 or 4 different avenues by now as they better understand their own thoughts and ideas. Not only is that permissible, it is a valued part of the process for us. They're learning to be flexible and adaptable, to respond to their changing ideas and perspectives. We're encouraging them to consider looking both inwards and outwards to find their PYPx inquiry. We're asking them to consider how they could take action to improve our Year 6 community instead of just looking outward.

As I sit and have conversations with students about their inquiries, I'm blown away by their insights into themselves and others, and the questions they have about themselves and others. From the student who has realised that she's spent this year in her comfort zone socially and is seeking to better understand those around her, to the student who noticed that the gender divide starts in kindergarten and is seeking to change the way that adults and kids think about these issues, to the student who is redesigning our primary school and creating a proposal for how our space could inspire more creativity and curiosity, their inquiries have personal significance and relevance. There are stories behind their inquiries.

To be honest, this PYPx probably feels even sweeter because it hasn't always been this way. The struggle was real in the first three terms as we challenged thinking, pushed for change within the culture of the year level and promoted a different narrative about learning. Here is what we have learned to do this year: always prioritise our core values. Community, belonging, courage and cohesion are what we value; Ubuntu is our goal. It's a daily choice to stick to our values. We will stop lessons to address dispositional issues that arise. We will intentionally set aside time for experiences that help our year level build stronger connections and help students and teachers feel as though they belong. We have spent all year noticing and naming dispositions and building student capacity to understand themselves and others. We prioritise community. We purposely share our own stories to break down barriers. We bring up the 'undiscussables', and make time for conversations around these. We are intentionally vulnerable and honest, and we're real about the struggles we are facing. Because at the end of the day, we are all humans.

Our students may not be able to tell you reams and reams of information. They most certainly won't tell you about a linear process. They haven't formally written lines of inquiry or selected three key concepts to drive their inquiry. They won't be standing up with boards at the end. They may not even end up with a product. But what are their days filled with? Taking action in a myriad of ways, thinking and puzzling, considering others and how to positively impact the world, seeking new perspectives on complex ideas, being open to their worldview shifting and moving, investing in each other, inspiring each other, building community, drawing on dispositions and skills, learning about themselves and others, and reflecting on how they have grown and changed this year. And for us, that's what it's all about.

PYP teacher in Melbourne. You can find me on Twitter at @mel_sokol View all posts by melissajsokol

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This is my 8th PYPx. Every one has been a success in its own way and has provided opportunities for students to grow, learn and celebrate their years in the PYP. But this one feels different to me. It feels as if this PYPx is actually transforming us as individuals and as a community.

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'The Exhibition' for PYP Grade 5 at our school is coming very quickly to 'Staging Days'. To be honest it is hard to see where the time has gone. W have 34 students doing 34 different inquiries,...

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This article talks about the journey of a Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition and the role of student agency in designing inquiry and research.
As the IB rolled out a PYP enhancement about learner agency, the grade 5 team at International School of Tanganyika thought about how to incorporate agency into our PYP exhibition. Unpacking the understanding of agency and thinking about its implication in this major event in the life of a fifth grader was a challenge.

Our first step was to break out of our preexisting notions of group dynamics and setting an expectation that each student would eventually work in a group. As the grade level central idea "Through our interests we can gain a deeper understanding of what matters in our community" was rolled out, the students were asked to inquire into an interest that they would like to learn more about. The enthusiasm to inquire into what they were genuinely passionate about paved way for more choices about the nature of groupings. At this stage, teachers chose to step back and let the students take charge. Students made choices about what they wanted to focus on after a few weeks of research and narrowing down their choices, which authentically led to forming groups based on common interests.

Choices of topics ranged from conventional ones like deforestation, gender equality, recycling, poaching and endangered sea life to more unconventional topics like guitar, mathematics and chronic kidney disorders. After an initial engagement with the grade wide central idea, students crafted their own central ideas based on their interests, developed concept questions and made choices about the transdisciplinary theme under which to place their inquiries. A focus on three key concepts drove the inquiry deeper. Some students decided to branch off from their umbrella group into working independently on ideas that excited them.

To combat the challenge of providing mentor support for each group/individual, the fifth-grade team decided to try a 'floating mentor' system. This enabled the mentors to visit classes and support various groups/individuals in the allocated times. Traditionally our school had allocated a mentor to each group, but with more flexibility this year, the mentors were able to support the groups/individuals that were hungry for "more". This model provided more time and efficiency to be able to scaffold the learners based on their needs.

Learner agency was gradually taking shape and students were more in control of their learning. It was exciting, yet unnerving at times for us as we sometimes struggled to see what the "end product" was going to look like. It was truly amazing to see students taking on their learning and demonstrating the approaches to learning as PYP learners. The power of student agency was on display. Teachers now have a better understanding of learner agency beyond its literal meaning as we got real life professional development from our "learners".

One of the students reflected on the process and commented that "During the exhibition I displayed self-management, commitment and independence. I learned that I was often asked the questions in the group and I often felt like the leader in the group. But with this position comes responsibilities, because lots of people are counting on you."

Designing an inquiry into personal interests was definitely successful and we hope to continue being able to enable students' choices about areas of interest. As the PYP enhancements are released next school year, we feel more and more excited to take on the role of learner agency into all areas of curriculum development.
Rehana Jasani has been a PYP practitioner for over 13 years. She is a PYP workshop leader, school visits team member and a PYP consultant. She currently teaches grade 5 at International School of Tanganyika, Tanzania. Prior to this, she was a PYP coordinator for 7 years at Aga Khan Schools, Dar-es-Salaam. Rehana is a lifelong learner who is passionate about inquiry based learning and believes in empowering students to take action as part of their learning. You can follow her on Twitter @Rehanajasani.

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This article talks about the journey of a Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition and the role of student agency in designing inquiry and research. As the IB rolled out a PYP enhancement about learner agency, the grade 5 team at International School of Tanganyika thought about how to incorporate agency into our PYP exhibition.

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During the 2013/14 academic year, the Year 6 Exhibition at RCHK took on a new look. Each student was able to authentically follow their passion and share what they had learnt with a wider audience within the school community.

Challenge
* All students to carry out their specific, chosen inquiry, rather than being grouped by a vaguely connected area of interest
* Increase motivation and engagement
* Flexible groupings
* Varied modes of collaboration
* Increase school community access to the exhibition process and product

Threats of traditional model of collaboration
* Student motivation was threatened by vague interest groupings
* Personal learning preference - intrapersonal over interpersonal
* Students become 'passengers' in their team
* Students were only able to work with others from their own class

Moving forward
Each of the 168 children explored their passions and developed these into a potential Central Idea (CI), identifying the issues connected to their area. They then explored how a connection with the transdisciplinary theme 'How We Organise Ourselves' could authentically be made.

Students began their inquiries individually but opportunities for collaboration were offered throughout the process:
* Issue based sessions for sharing and collaboration (environment, technology, animals etc.) across the year level (some groups with common CI formed across different Year 6 classes)
* Groups within the class formed and reformed naturally as all students had access to a Google document detailing the CI
* Collaboration via flexible mentoring rather than one mentor per group
* Collaboration with subject experts (secondary teachers)
* Students collaborated with regards to presentation style, offering feedback and tips
* Collaboration with outside agencies in person or through technology

Pros
* A broader variety of exhibition issues and presentation styles
* More student-driven
* Motivation was high as students were focused on their passion and issues
* More authentic collaboration as it was organic and developed as part of the process, rather than being set at the beginning
* Fewer social issues; students were motivated to solve problems during collaboration as the group effort was purposeful

Cons
* Challenge to organize space for sharing 145 different exhibitions, some individual and some group
* Managing so many different exhibition groups from across six classes
The end result was an exciting and diverse exhibition and fulfilling learning experience for all students. The reward was definitely worth the effort and risk-taking on the part of the teachers. In removing the expectation of students working in fixed groups for the length of the unit, collaboration was enhanced and more authentic.
How do your students collaborate when they do their exhibition? Share with us your PYP exhibition story!

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Tracy Wnek began teaching at the Renaissance College in Hong Kong 8 years ago. She has taught P2 and P3, and is currently teaching and leading P6. She believes that we learn best through discovery and developing our curiosity, and by making connections between ourselves, what we are learning, and our daily interactions.

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Redefining collaboration in the PYP exhibition

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During the 2013/14 academic year, the Year 6 Exhibition at RCHK took on a new look. Each student was able to authentically follow their passion and share what they had learnt with a wider audience within the school community.

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​The excitement is building in Grade 5! We have a week to go before we officially 'start' exhibition, but really this whole year has been about PYPx17, reflecting, discussing, thinking,...

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How can we provide better opportunities for learning to be expressed creatively? Do students have choice or does everyone have to do the same thing in the same way? What possibilities are there for students to explore different media for creative expression? How is creativity encouraged and developed?

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This article illustrates how grade 5 students took ownership of their own learning throughout the PYP exhibition organized under the transdisciplinary theme How the world works.
In April 2016, my grade 5 students presented their independent learning throughout the exhibition and under the transdisciplinary theme How the world works. The central idea developed by us was Our understanding of science and the application of technology affect lives.

It was very important to me that the students understood that there are both positive and negative consequences to human development and progress. The students were very engaged in their own learning making strong connections to the transdisciplinary theme and the central idea.

One group was very keen to look into sound and properties of natural laws, a second group explored how space explorations are based on our understanding of the natural laws, and a third group learned about human understanding of biochemistry and its impact on health and medicine.

The power and authority the exhibition provides for students inspired them to plan every part of the process in detail, use organizing documents, create timelines of their work, prepare their own learning trips, invite guest speakers - all very independent, student-driven learning and very powerful for me as an educator and their teacher.

See here the grade 5 exhibition planner 2015-16.

The exhibition day was very successful and was a celebration of students' independent inquiry, their thirst for knowledge, and self-reliant drive to learn more.

Students know exactly what they want to learn, they think big and are confident that they will understand the facts and conquer the challenges. They feel empowered with the possibilities and options to own their choices and their learning. I truly believe that the option to take ownership of their learning is giving my students the enthusiasm they are displaying only a few weeks before this school year ends.

Regardless their age, young learners should always be part of planning of their learning. Our responsibility as educators is to keep the passion for learning live. We are to provide opportunities for questions and open inquiries which should enable them to go deeper into the content which interests the learners.

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Marijana (Maya) Drezgic worked and lived in Gaborone, Botswana, Shanghai, China and now in Bandung, Indonesia during the 16 years of her international teaching experience. Maya is passionate about learning, collaboration, critical thinking and inquiry in 21st century classroom.

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Students taking ownership of their learning

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This article illustrates how grade 5 students took ownership of their own learning throughout the PYP exhibition organized under the transdisciplinary theme How the world works. In April 2016, my grade 5 students presented their independent learning throughout the exhibition and under the transdisciplinary theme How the world works.

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There is a great opportunity for students to showcase their learning in math through the Exhibition. For some classes during this time, "math class" is often a welcome relief in all the busy scheduling of Exhibition. Many school keep a constant math period and continue to work through their curriculum while also working on math related to the Exhibition.

Three sources of internet-found brilliance are definitely worth taking a look at if you are interested in seeing how an inquiry approach can be taken to the integration of math in the Exhibition.

Authentic Inquiry Maths is a blog by Bruce Ferrington. He is interested in making "the kids do the thinking". A teacher in Australia, Bruce's blog has a number of posts related to the Exhibition that show how students have integrated their mathematical knowledge with their inquiry topic. He has some great examples of interactive graphs, using balance scales for participants to voice their opinion, and graphing data pictorially. The posts related to Exhibition are great but his whole blog is worth taking a look at for some great ideas about math inquiries.

Rebekah Madrid is a teacher at Yokohama International School. She has written an excellent, detailed post supported by real-life examples of the work of her students on the topic of Infographics - making numbers sing. In this post she details how she has her kids make infographics using found household objects to convey their data points. The post is well documented and supported by loads of additional resources should you wish to recreate her lessons with your own students.

Would You Rather? is a great math blog that asks students to choose their own path and justify it using math. Written by John Stevens, WYR? poses questions such as:

This blog would be a great place to get inspiration for kids to write their own WYR questions based on the knowledge they acquire throughout the Exhibition process.

How do you showcase Math in the PYP Exhibition?

Authentic Inquiry Maths, Bruce Ferrington, Inquiry, John Stevens, Math, PYP Exhibition, Rebekah Madrid, Would You Rather

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Math + Exhibition = Opportunity for Inquiry!

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There is a great opportunity for students to showcase their learning in math through the Exhibition. For some classes during this time, "math class" is often a welcome relief in all the busy scheduling of Exhibition. Many school keep a constant math period and continue to work through their curriculum while also working on math...

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We are about two weeks out from the official start date of our sixth and final unit of inquiry for this school year. It is the eXhibition unit! At our school we purposefully align our eXhibition...

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Principles into Practice - The Exhibition

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Principles into Practice - The Exhibition

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Collaboration within and beyond the learning community

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Collaboration within and beyond the learning community

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Often there is an expectation that PYPx  will be "flashy" and look great. For example, students learn a song that they sing for the Opening Ceremonies, or they have professionally printed trifold boards.

Why do we do it this way? Is this an authentic expression of their inquiries?

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What if we made a collection of vignettes of authentic PYPx experiences?

For example:
One group created an Instagram account posting about deforestation. They are still posting, months after the end of PYPx.

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Wanted to know on how to choose a topic or issue for the exhibition.  How do we frame the central idea and the lines of inquiry, how to get the right key concepts incorporated.
How can we document the entire process

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Here is the Harvard Project Zero Visible Thinking Routines website.

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PZ's Thinking Routines Toolbox | Project Zero

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The Toolbox organizes the Thinking Routines into categories that describe the types of thinking the routines help to facilitate. Some routines appear in more than one category, and some routines have different versions that offer modifications for specific age groups or more specific conceptual challenges.

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The resources here are designed for both educator and learner use of the Agency by Design Framework for Maker-Centered Learning. In this collection you will find three sets of resources. Thinking Routines offer several mini-strategies to encourage active processing and build on learners’ background knowledge. Activities & Practices offer suggestions and guidelines for teaching a variety of maker-centered learning activities. The Documentation and Assessment Tools offer a range of techniques and activities that help learners and educators reflect on thinking and learning and be intentional in their efforts to improve the learning process. All of the tools are designed to help develop the maker capacities of Looking Closely, Exploring Complexity, and Finding Opportunity.

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The resources here are designed for both educator and learner use of the Agency by Design Framework for Maker-Centered Learning. In this collection you will find three sets of resources. Thinking Routines offer several mini-strategies to encourage active processing and build on learners' background knowledge.

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black & white visual images to support concept development

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Noun Project: Free Icons & Stock Photos for Everything

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Noun Project has the most diverse collection of free icons and stock photos. Download SVG and PNG. Over 5 million art-quality icons and free photos.

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• What tasks do you feel you want to do?
• How much time do you need to do it?
• Who is going to do it?

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• Expectations
• Language
• Time
• Modeling
• Opportunities
• Routines
• Interactions
• Environment

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Time is ticking and the kick off to the 2019 Global Read Aloud is nearing. I hope this collection of information is helpful!

For a comprehensive FAQ post, go here

The dates are September 30th - November 8th, 2019 - you can fall behind, just don't read ahead.

Picture book study

The work of Yuyi Morales - creator extraordinaire. Every time I pick up a book shaped in some way by Yuyi, it takes my breath away. The scope of her work means that we not only get to t revel in the beauty of her art but also marvel at the stories she shares.
1st week: Dreamers in English or Spanish 2nd week: Just A Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book 3rd week: Nino Wrestles the World 4th week: 5th week: Little Night/Nochecita 6th week: Your choice
Early Readers
Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez
Stella Diaz loves marine animals, especially her betta fish, Pancho. But Stella Diaz is not a betta fish. Betta fish like to be alone, while Stella loves spending time with her mom and brother and her best friend Jenny. Trouble is, Jenny is in another class this year, and Stella feels very lonely.

When a new boy arrives in Stella's class, she really wants to be his friend, but sometimes Stella accidentally speaks Spanish instead of English and pronounces words wrong, which makes her turn roja. Plus, she has to speak in front of her whole class for a big presentation at school! But she better get over her fears soon, because Stella Díaz has something to say!

Middle Grade
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?

It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

Middle School
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
Life is harsh in Chennai's teeming streets, so when runaway sisters Viji and Rukku arrive, their prospects look grim. Very quickly, eleven-year-old Viji discovers how vulnerable they are in this uncaring, dangerous world. Fortunately, the girls find shelter-and friendship-on an abandoned bridge. With two homeless boys, Muthi and Arul, the group forms a family of sorts. And while making a living scavenging the city's trash heaps is the pits, the kids find plenty to laugh about and take pride in too. After all, they are now the bosses of themselves and no longer dependent on untrustworthy adults. But when illness strikes, Viji must decide whether to risk seeking help from strangers or to keep holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom.

Young Adult
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden-but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

The weekly schedule is:
Stella Diaz Has Something to Say
Week 1: Chapters 1-4

Week 2: Chapters 5 - 7

Week 3: Chapters 8 - 10

Week 4: Chapters 11 - 13

Week 5: Chapters 14 - 17

Week 6: Chapters 18 - End

Thank you to Brittney Dougherty for doing the breakdown for me!
Front Desk:
Week 1: Chapters 1 - 9

Week 2: Chapters 10 - 21

Week 3: Chapters 22 - 35

Week 4: Chapters 36 - 48

Week 5: Chapters 49 - 57

Week 6: Chapters 58 - End
The Bridge Home:
Week 1: Chapters 1-7

Week 2: Chapters 8-15

Week 3: Chapters 16-22

Week 4: Chapters 23-30

Week 5: Chapters 31-37

Week 6: Chapters 38-44
The Marrow Thieves:
Week 1: Pages 1-41

Week 2: Pages 42-79

Week 3: Pages 80 - 117

Week 4: Pages 118 - 160

Week 5: Pages 161 - 191

Week 6: Pages 192 - end
Main GRA Facebook group Picture Book Study Group Early Reader Book Group
Upper Elementary/ Middle-Grade Book Group
Middle School Book Group YA Book Group
Picture book author study - #GRAYuyi

Stella Diaz Has Something to Say - #GRAStella

Front Desk - #GRAFront

The Bridge Home - #GRABridge

The Marrow Thieves- #GRAMarrow

T-shirts and other merchandise supporting the project can be found here

Please remember and respect that the Global Read Aloud is trademarked and is established in the spirit of free collaboration. Please do not create resources to sell for the project - it goes completely against the nature of the work and will result in you being barred from the project.

Do please share resources on this spreadsheet, make sure to not delete anything off it. Also, please do not change the sharing settings on it.

To see the spreadsheet and add your own free resources, go here
Yuyi Morales Angela Dominguez Padma Venkatraman Cherie Dimaline

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Information for 2019 Global Read Aloud #GRA19

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Time is ticking and the kick off to the 2019 Global Read Aloud is nearing. I hope this collection of information is helpful! For a comprehensive FAQ post, go here The dates are September 30th - November 8th, 2019 - you can fall behind, just don't read ahead.

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scroll down for the image

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My grade five learners are coming to the end of their self-chosen design projects. At the moment they are choosing how they want to reflect on their learning and what questions they want to be asked.

I am adding a question to their list:

How will this project inform your thinking for your work in the PYP Exhibition?

We have had a few false starts.

We have had a few failures.

We have had a few who have not used their time to best effect.

None of this matters, in my opinion, as long as this knowledge feeds forward into their next project. If they take what they learned, what worked, what didn't, and they move forward in their learning.

So, to that end, we will be starting a new design project in a week or so in which they think about their Exhibition and think about what they are wanting to achieve. To that end, I saw a graphic on Twitter that was co-created by IB PYP teachers as a culmination of ideas from Twitter. I have recreated this graphic with some pictures to share with my learners. I want to support them in figuring out their purpose within the Exhibition and designing and creating something that moves them closer toward achieving that purpose.

I like the idea of thinking about purpose and then creating and designing according to that purpose. Whilst doing this, I will be working with our IT Coach to look at how best to visually engage our audience by tapping into the work of Keri-Lee Beasley and her Design Secrets Revealed book on iTunes. This book provides a wealth of information about graphic design and effectively engaging your audience through the principles of design. It is a MUST for any teacher undertaking #pypx who can't bear another presentation in rainbow colored Comic Sans font with ALL the transitions 🙂

If you are a single subject/specialist/integrator, how are you connecting with your learners undertaking the PYP Exhibition?

A note on student agency...
Recently, a new blog "Educator Voices" has started. A blog designed as "a place to share and celebrate how we are pushing the boundaries, shaking up the system and challenging the status quo." It is a blog focused on making school different and there is a lot to say about student agency. I encourage you to check it out and engage in the comments on blog posts. This is a tipping point in education and in "school" as we know it. None of us have all the answers but if we keep sharing our ideas and championing each other, we are likely going to get closer to serving our kids in the best ways possible.

A mom, educator, designer, creator. I care about kindness, representation, equality, and making a positive contribution. I began teaching in 1997 in New Zealand and have since taught from G1 through G10 in 4 continents. View all posts by Sonya terBorg

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My grade five learners are coming to the end of their self-chosen design projects. At the moment they are choosing how they want to reflect on their learning and what questions they want to be asked. I am adding a question to their list: How will this project inform your thinking for your work in...

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Sign up for the next Character Day at characterday.org! 

30,000 Days directed by @tiffanyshlain premiered globally for #CharacterDay2017 at the 133,000 events in 119 countries. Please see speakers talk about the ideas in the film at http://www.letitripple.org/character-day. The film explores the 3,000 year history of humans wrestling with the question of how to live life with meaning and purpose. The film is appropriate for ages 8-99+ and is translated into Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, Hebrew, Hindi, and Portuguese. Lots of resources and materials at characterday.org